Dave - Easier way to browse the PDB?

On Go_Vols' "WOW!" thread http://davesgarden.com/s/343305.html , we were discussing the incredible numbers of plants that have been added this past year and the need for more comments and such. tiG mentioned something that I've wondered myself ~ can you implement an easier way to browse the PDB?

Just alphabetized by genus would be a tremendous help! Maybe a clickable alphabet on the PDB homepage that would give us a list of genuses that begin with each letter? IMHO, no thumbnails would be needed on that page ~ that may prove a nightmare. Just the genus names listed and clickable so clicking would then take us to a page with all the species in that genus, like this page for the Dahlia genus: http://plantsdatabase.com/browse/genus/Dahlia/index.html

If you could go a little farther without too much trouble, an alphabetized list by family, with the respective genus members below each, would be incredible. Also, alpha- by common name ~ this wouldn't leave anyone out (including me who sometimes can't remember that Pansies are really Viola something or others.) I do realize that with the way the PDB is set up, alpha- by common names might pose a problem and just not be doable right now.

BTW, I just tried to find a way around this problem by doing a search for "A" in the PDB while I composed this post. I still would have had to pick through the common names to find the genuses and vice versa, but it might have been workable. No dice ~ my computer bogged down so much that my typing showed up a full five seconds after I typed it.

And if you already have an idea for a better way to browse alphabetically, that would be fine. Anything so we could browse through would be great!

Another thing I wish you could add is to alphabetize the search results:) Or add an option to have the results alfabetized by Latin or common name.



This message was edited Friday, Sep 6th 12:42 PM

C'mon, y'all! We need five people to think this is a good idea. tiG, wanna' weight in here? Anybody else? :)

I'm all for it...

I have a lengthy email in my "TODO" folder of my mail program from go_vols on the subject of searching the PDB.

It's a big database and a big job to find new search/browse methods. But, I'm all over this idea and it -will- happen (and in less than a year's time, no less!!)

:)

I just finished a huge contract job this afternoon, so I'll be a little more responsive for a while now.

dave

Cool! And again, Thanks Dave!